AUTOMOTIVE
Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations announced the winners of its 2015 Mazda Gold Cup award—four of them based in Orange County. Huntington Beach Mazda, Tustin Mazda, Tuttle-Click Mazda in Irvine and Mazda of Orange were among 125 dealers recognized for dedication to customer satisfaction and new vehicle sales. There are five OC Mazda dealers. This year’s Gold Cup designation expires Jan. 31, 2016, when all 700 dealers nationwide are invited to apply for 2016 honors.
EDUCATION
All of Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc.’s 14 locations in Canada were shuttered by regulators there, where it operated its Everest College subsidiary, news reports said. Canadian officials said they would work with students to get refunds and help them transfer to other schools. The for-profit schools company is closing down as part of an agreement last summer with the U.S. Department of Education.
FINANCE
Paul McCulley stepped down from his post as chief economist and managing director at Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. after rejoining the firm in May. He was recruited to the investment house by Bill Gross, cofounder of the company and former chief investment officer. Gross left the firm in September to join smaller rival Janus Capital Group Inc. McCulley said he accepted the position to “work side-by-side with Bill Gross, as economic counselor, doing the three things that I love: think, write and speak macro” and that his “mission here is complete.”
Pacific Mercantile Bancorp added two directors to its board, including the head of Aviation Capital Group Corp., a subsidiary of Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co. The Costa Mesa-based bank now has 12 directors. Denis Kalscheur has been chief executive of Newport Beach-based Aviation Capital, a commercial aircraft leasing firm, for about two years. He previously worked at Pacific Life as senior vice president and treasurer. Pacific Mercantile also tapped Romir Bosu as a director. He founded financial technology management firm Compushare, which was acquired by Canadian financial technology company D+H. He founded Nadavon Capital Partners in Newport Beach last year and recently acquired New York-based financial audit firm Accume Partners.
HEALTHCARE
San Clemente-based device maker ReShape Medical Inc. raised $6.75 million in debt financing, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The latest round brings the company’s total raised to more than $46.5 million since its inception. The privately held company makes the Duo balloon device, which is inserted endoscopically into a patient’s stomach to assist in weight loss. Duo is approved in Europe and is under Food and Drug Administration review here.
Lawrence Armstrong, a San Clemente resident and chief executive of Irvine-based architecture and planning firm Ware Malcomb, said his firm will donate $250,000 worth of design and planning services to keep the Saddleback Memorial Medical Center San Clemente campus open. Fountain Valley-based MemorialCare Health System, which acquired the center in 2005, said in August that it would study converting it to an ambulatory care campus. Advocacy group Save Saddleback San Clemente Hospital has fought to keep the hospital, including its emergency room, as is.
INSURANCE
Mission Viejo-based E&O Professional Risk Management and Insurance Services LLC was acquired by Integro Ltd. in New York on undisclosed terms. E&O specializes in niche segments of the errors-and-omissions insurance market. It was founded in 2008 by Sheri Pontolillo, who will continue to oversee the group within Integro. Integro was founded in 2005 and was ranked the seventh largest independent agency in the U.S. based on 2013 property-and-casualty revenue, with about $132 million. It has an office in Newport Beach for the Rule Group unit.
SERVICES
The parent company of Irvine-based employment screening firm HireRight Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection. Falls Church, Va.-based information services firm Altegrity Inc. said it has “voluntarily filed for a pre-negotiated reorganization” under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. HireRight was acquired in 2008 by US Investigations Services for $195 million and was reported on the sales block in 2013 for about $1 billion. Altegrity is owned by Providence, R.I.-based private equity firm Providence Equity Partners LLC.
